Gua Sha

Gua Sha is an ancient Chinese treatment modality dating back thousands of years. The character Gua means "scrape", and the character Sha is that of "sand" inside the radical for "illness". A rounded blunt edged tool (commonly a spoon or horn), is repeatedly scraped on the skin until a reddish, elevated, millet-like rash (or petechiae) is raised. It is applied to areas considered to have toxins, blood stagnation, or excess heat  this can be indicated by various pains, systemic toxicity, poor circulation of fluids (e.g. water, blood, lymph, etc.), inflammation, low energy and increased stress. When an area of the body is scraped it results in the build-up of accumulated stagnation and toxins to the skin surface, thus allowing for the introduction and circulation of fresh, oxygenated, nutrient-rich fluids.